Forget digging through your bag for coins, scrambling for credit cards, or constantly checking if your e-wallet has enough cash. The future of dining, shopping, and payments just landed in the Philippines, and it is looking very, very high-tech.
We recently dined in at Cochi by Marvin, the highly talked-about restaurant by actor-restaurateur Marvin Agustin in BGC, famous for its mouthwatering, shatteringly crisp cochinillo (roasted suckling pig). While the food was absolutely spectacular, the highlight of our lunch was how we settled the bill.
We put the ultimate fintech flex to the test: paying for our premium meal using stablecoins via Coins.ph!
The Big News: Crypto Meets Your Everyday Cravings
Coins.ph just dropped a major bombshell, and it’s a total game-changer for anyone who’s ever dabbled in crypto. They’ve officially launched the QRPh Stablecoin Payment feature—the first of its kind in the country.
Translation? You can now pay for your dinner, your new sneakers, or your grocery haul using Philippine Peso, Stablecoins such as USDT, or a combination of both at any merchant with a QRPh code.
That means the standard QRPh code sitting on the counter at Cochi by Marvin is no longer just for cash e-wallets. It is now a gateway to spending your digital assets.
Wait, How Does It Work? (Our Step-by-Step Experience at Cochi)
Gone are the days of manually selling or converting your crypto to PHP on an exchange, waiting for the withdrawal to hit your bank, and then paying. Coins.ph has bridged the gap between your digital portfolio and your actual, daily dining table.
Here is exactly how we used the app to pay for our cochinillo feast at Cochi by Marvin:
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Step 1: Scan the Merchant QR When the bill arrived, we asked the staff for their QRPh code. We opened the Coins.ph app, tapped the scan icon, and scanned the QR code.
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Step 2: Enter the PHP Amount The app instantly recognized the merchant as Cochi. We keyed in our total bill in Philippine Pesos (PHP).
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Step 3: Choose Your Payment Method This is where it gets incredibly cool. The app prompted us to choose how we wanted to settle the amount:
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Pure Peso: The classic digital cash way.
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Pure Crypto: Flexing those USDT gains by paying entirely with digital assets.
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The Hybrid Flex: Short on Pesos? You can combine your PHP balance with your crypto to settle the bill in one seamless checkout.
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Step 4: Slide to Slide & Pay! We selected our USDT balance. The app instantly calculated the conversion rate to PHP with zero fuss. With a quick swipe, the transaction was complete. The restaurant received the exact PHP amount, and we walked out with full bellies and a mind-blown appreciation for Web3 tech.
Supported Stablecoin Assets
For the initial launch, Coins.ph is letting you spend the heavy hitters of the crypto world:
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USDT: The stablecoin. Since this is pegged to the US Dollar, you get the speed and convenience of crypto without any of the daily market volatility.
Why This is Actually a Huge Deal
Coins.ph isn’t just playing around; they’re moving serious volume. In December 2025 alone, they processed nearly ₱30 billion in QRPh transactions. By opening the floodgates to crypto, they are turning the digital assets you use for trading or store of value into actual, spendable money at nearly 700,000 merchants nationwide.
“This initiative is part of Coins.ph’ broader effort to make crypto more usable in everyday life,” says Wei Zhou, CEO of Coins.ph. “We want to simplify transactions for users who need the flexibility of being able to pay in peso, or crypto, or both.”
No More “Crypto Anxiety”
We know what you’re thinking: What if the transaction fails? Does my USDT just vanish into the digital ether? Relax. The system is built to be completely foolproof. If a payment doesn’t go through, the system automatically reverts the conversion, putting your crypto back exactly where it was. And if you ever need a refund from the restaurant? You’ll get it back in cold, hard PHP.
The Bottom Line
Our dining experience at Cochi by Marvin proved that world-class Filipino-Spanish culinary experiences and cutting-edge Web3 fintech are a match made in heaven. Your digital wallet just got a serious, real-world glow-up. Whether you’re a crypto whale or just curious about Web3, the Philippines just became a whole lot more “future-proof.”
Ready to try it yourself? Update your Coins.ph app and look for the QRPh code next time you’re out dining!
